TREATMENT OF ERYTHROBLASTOSIS

This is a disease of the newborn due to an incompatibility between the mother’s blood and the newborn infant’s blood. Some of the other names for this disease are: Rh factor disease, severe jaundice of the newborn and severe anaemia of the newborn. All people are either Rh positive or Rh negative. This means that the blood contains a substance (Rh substance) in Rh positive people which is not present in Rh negative people. Eighty five per cent people are Rh positive and the other 15 per cent Rh negative. These blood factors are transmitted from parent to child. Rh factor disease is got only when the woman is Rh negative and the man Rh positive. But only one in two hundred babies born of ‘unequal’ marriage will have this condition.

An Rh negative mother carries an Rh positive baby in her uterus. Some of the Rh positive baby’s blood substance gets into the mother’s circulation and produces Rh positive antibodies. These antibodies in turn will later get into the baby’s circulation and produce Rh positive antibodies. These antibodies in turn will later get into the baby’s circulation and destroy the baby’s own blood cells. This results in the destruction of the infant’s blood cells that in turn produces jaundice.

After birth an exchange transfusion should be done as soon as possible. This means that an attempt is to be made to remove all, or nearly all, of the baby’s blood and replace it with blood from a donor-blood that does not contain these dangerous antibodies. If done early enough, it will cure almost every case.

TREATMENT OF ERYTHROBLASTOSIS